So OP…. has this panned out how you imagined?

My lad’s 11, he used to love the Lego games but has grown out of them too.

Current favourites are:
Forza Horizon on Xbox (rated 12 for bad language so he plays with the sound turned down bless ‘im)
Gran Tourismo on PS3
Minecraft on anything & everything
Clash of the Clans on iPad (this is sweeping through their school like wildfire – reckon it’s the next Minecraft).

Given that we try to limit him to 1 hour a day, I don’t know how he fits it all in!

One of our car’s is a cat C.
Bought back from the insurance company as salvage and we’ve not spent a penny getting it repaired. The boot floor is bent so you can’t get the spare wheel out, but from the outside there’s just a bit of cosmetic damage.

All we had to do was get a VIC check (we were told you can’t re-tax without it). Been through a couple of MOTS and used for 2 years since the accident – no problems (until we have a puncture….!)

we replaced ours about 3 years ago & went for the B&Q ‘Cooke & Lewis’ range.
Overall, pretty happy, but a few things we learnt along the way:

1) If you want to house your boiler inside a wall unit, choose carefully. Not many wall units are deep enough (Howdens were really shallow). This was the clincher for us – the B&Q ones were the deepest we could find.
2) Beware some of the more quirky ‘storage solutions’ – we’ve got a full height pull-out larder thing & it’s been a right PITA. Never really worked that well – it’s massive but doesn’t seem built to support any real weight. Once I work out an alternative use for the space, it’s going to the tip.
3) Worktops…. what a nightmare – too much choice! There seem to be loads of companies doing granite/quartz these days, so bargain hard & you’ll get a deal.

Try these guys Silly grin[/url]

They’re pretty local but not sure exactly where they ride.

Cheers gofaster – I’ll mention it tonight if the dust has settled!

My wife is about to start a new job which entails working from home a couple of days a week.
In preparation we’ve converted the spare room into an office and bought a new desk from John Lewis last week which has not been used yet.

This morning she discovered Lego jnr 2 has managed to get biro all over the top of it.

I don’t know if they were late for school as I baled out just before the onset of WW3.

ji – you got mail.
Thanks.

Bump for the evening crowd.
Anyone?

1/6 for me, but it was a brutal little climb and I’m rubbish at going up.
Av grade was 17.9%!

IME architects add most value during the creative stage i.e. working out the best way to use your space based on how you want to live in it. You might think there’s only one obvious solution but a good architect will come up with ideas and options you never thought of.

We spent around £70k remodelling and renovating our 4 bed 1930s house – smartest thing we did in the whole project was use an architect

I used to get this really badly – I’d go almost deaf sometimes and it would last for several days.
Eventually went to docs and had my ears syringed. Hasn’t stopped it all together but reduced it to more ‘normal’ levels.

Hey Peter – are you a Shieldaig resident?
Lucky so-and-so if you are! We stayed there for a weekend last Oct, what beautiful place.

Oh and as regards the MR2 ferrari, shove the abomination into the loch

Quite the opposite here. Today she said:
‘how much have you spent on bike stuff this month – is it £162?’

My response:
‘no, it’s £192 actually’

Why the hell did I do that????!

Not sure I can fully answer your question but I’ve noticed the same trend myself.

The one thing I have had to concede is that I get tired a lot quicker than I used to and tiredness is probably the biggest factor in most crashes/near misses (IME). I still like to think I can ride as hard as ever, but tend to tone it down a bit as the legs start to get heavy.

I’ve not had one since I was a kid, but I do ride mostly trail centres.
For those bell advocates – do they ting annoyingly over every bump (as demonstrated by the recent ‘how I broke my arm at Swinley’ thread), or are they silent until used?

Hey, got there about 5-ish.
We were in the smaller field closer to the town – right in front of the brand new (literally driven straight from the dealer) Ferrari 458 which had a huge crowd of small boys around it all night!

We left about 8pm and got a huge cheer from the crowd lining the strip – must have been in recognition of driving the least powerful car on show!!

Thanks for the tips guys.
Looking forward to it!

Hi ianv – think it was you that originally mentioned the place to me on a thread a few months ago.

Do you think my Anthem will cope with the terrain, or will I be a bit out of my depth on a short travel bike?

You seem to have a good knowledge of the area – do you know of any trails in the Castellane area (ideally riding from the town, or close to it), as that’s where we’ll be based?

Cheers, Paul.

Chris – that sounds like the one, it’s near Bradford-on-Avon. He’s got a load more cars in a barn out back.

Gary – didn’t look like it had been there long, apart from the flat tyres it was mint. Someone had made a half-arsed attempt to cover it but the cover was on the floor.

Oh, it’s not just the French…….. Behind a small hotel in Wiltshire:
[/URL]]Turbo R

Probably not until 5 due to work.
The Bambino makes everyone smile! I’ll probably avoid the strip though……!

Hammy – if Z1ppy isn’t interested, drop me some pics to thedrurys11 at gmaildotcom.
Cheers.

Here’s a couple more, taken in Le Pre, near Les Arcs a few weeks ago…

[/URL]]Citroen DS
[/URL]]Renault van

My son wanted to know if we could take the DS home and restore it!
Yeah,I can’t see any problems with that apart from it being one of the most complex old cars to restore and being located half way up an Alp 800 miles from home!

Here you go Timid
Link

Timid, will do tonight. I’m away from home and only got my phone & slow connection right now.

Anyone?

I bought a load of those bigdug shelf kits for my garage.
They do the job but I found all the MDF shelves they give you have warped and, more annoyingly, developed a thick growth of mould which covers everything on the shelf below.

My garage isn’t particularly damp & I’ve got plenty of other MDF stuff out there which has never gone mouldy.

I’ve had to empty them all to remove & paint all the shelves. Which was a job I could have lived without.

I am trying to do something about this.

Yep, and I think you deserve some recognition for that, there are plenty of people who’d turn a blind eye.

I do hope you can find a way of doing it quickly though.

I’m so glad you asked, as I was wondering if my Nobby Nics were going to arrive before I go on holiday.

Sounds like they will. Yay!

Sorry, as a victim of an uninsured driver myself, I have zero sympathy here.
Difficult family background… blah, blah, blah… these idiots always have some excuse. He’s an adult, he’s made his choices.

Ask yourself this question – if he goes out and kills someone this afternoon, how will you feel about yourself? Then pick up the phone and do the right thing.

simple fact – you cant insure something you dont own

not true – I have a car on a 3 year contract hire agreement.
I don’t own it or any part of it (never will – just hand it back at end of the 3 years), I’m not the registered keeper on the log book (I don’t have the log book, the hire company hold it and it’s registered to them).

I do have to insure it however, appart from the legal requirement I’m contractually responsible for repairing/replacing it if I damage it

For all those knocking Swinley…. you’re right, it’s rubbish. Not worth you treking over there and clogging up the trails. You should all stay away. Especially on Saturday mornings, you’d hate it on Saturday mornings. 8)

anyone else following that link to a story about 3 wild deer….. or just me?

Personally, if I was staying somewhere where I felt security was an issue, I’d be careful which part of the car I secured the bikes to.

Last thing I’d want would be an attempted theft immobilising the car in some way whilst 800 miles from home, with 2 small children.

Most big camp sites are pretty secure IME, it’s the overnight stops on the motorways which worry me more.

Loved it, great racing, closing ceremony was the cherry on the cake.
What am I going to do at 7pm every night now it’s finished??

I like it. Not really sure why.

I was at FOS last Saturday – one of the NASCAR racers spun and crashed into the bales right where my son & I were standing.
The thing was literally coming straight towards us backwards!

Been searching YouTube but can’t find any footage of it

Well that is what we currently have

No, that’s not what we have, because you selectively quoted half of the sentance I wrote, which was:

Perhaps statutary life sentances for murder – with life actually meaning whole life

oh, and screw Europe.

Sickening. Whatever your views on the death penalty, the current system obviously does nothing to deter scum like this.

Perhaps statutary life sentances for murder – with life actually meaning whole life, and not in some hotel room with bars on the windows. No Sky TV etc – it ain’t meant to be nice.
I know it would cost, but I’d happily pay another penny on my income tax to keep my family safe from these idiots.